Stock Market & Financial Investment News

Verizon continues negotiations with 37,000 wireline employeesVerizon announced it will continue negotiations with the CWA and IBEW to reach agreements on new contracts covering more than 37,000 wireline employees in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. The contracts expired at midnight, August 1. Although new agreements have not been reached, no strike has been called and employees will continue to work as negotiations continue. Late on August 1, Verizon presented the unions with a "comprehensive" counter-proposal which included changes to the company's previous proposals on healthcare benefits, retirement benefits and other subjects. The company's proposal remains on the table at this time. "We remain fully prepared to handle any work stoppage," said Chief Administrative Officer Marc Reed.

Verizon says little progress in contract talks with East landline employees Verizon said, "After nearly seven weeks of challenging negotiations, Verizon is preparing for all potential scenarios following the expiration of its contracts with the CWA and IBEW, covering more than 37,000 Wireline employees in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. The contracts expire at midnight, Aug. 1, 2015.While the company presented union leaders with a comprehensive initial offer on June 22 that included a solid wage increase, union leaders countered with a series of proposals that did virtually nothing to advance the progress of negotiations." "Employees are eligible to receive up to five weeks of paid vacation time, not including paid sick days and paid excused days," said Marc Reed, Verizon's chief administrative officer. "While we're willing to consider all offers, union leaders came back with counterproposals that would offer up to 19 additional days off, including new holidays, employee birthdays, more vacation days and additional sick days. That sort of proposal is unrealistic and out-of-touch in today's marketplace."

Sprint introduces Family Share Pack planWith more data than T-Mobile (TMUS), and with significant savings over Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T), Sprint (S) introduces the new Sprint Family Share Pack. Families switching to Sprint get four lines, unlimited talk, text and 10GB of high-speed data while on the Sprint network for $100/month starting July 31. Sprint says its new plan will save families $480/year over Verizon and $720/year over AT&T for virtually the same 10GB of data. Sprint says that 10GB is more than double the high-speed data in T-Mobile’s family plan.

AOL: There are more TV ads now than ever, WSJ reportsAOL (AOL), currently owned by Verizon (VZ), said that there are more advertisements on television than ever, making it increasingly difficult for marketers to break through in an already cluttered arena, the Wall Street Journal reports. AOL said that the reported rate of TV ad impression growth is misleading, though TV networks are managing to push in more ads into half hour and hour long shows, the report says. Reference Link

UBS says YouTube paid service could be $1B businessGoogle's (GOOG, GOOGL) revenue could increase by about $1B or more if it decides to offer a paid, ad free version of its YouTube website in the U.S., UBS wrote in a note to investors today. The firm made the estimate based on a survey it conducted of U.S. consumers. WHAT'S NEW: YouTube remains well-positioned to benefit from the growth of online video, UBS analyst Eric Sheridan stated. After UBS conducted a survey of U.S. adult consumers, Sheridan reported that the survey found that 27% of U.S. consumers would probably subscribe to a paid, ad free version of YouTube. According to Bloomberg, YouTube has decided to launch such a service in coming months. If only 5% of U.S. YouTube users buy subscriptions to the service, Google's revenue would rise by about $943M, Sheridan estimated. Following the survey, the analyst is more confident that Google will meet his revenue estimates, which exceed consensus levels. Specifically, he predicted that Google's revenue for the second half of 2015 would come in at $32.4B, versus the consensus outlook of $31.8B, while its 2016 revenue would be $72.2B, compared with the consensus estimate of $69.7B. Sheridan kept a $750 price target and Buy rating on the stock. WHAT'S NOTABLE: Other companies that are significantly exposed to online video include Netflix (NFLX), Facebook (FB) and AOL, which has been acquired by Verizon (VZ). PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, Google Class A shares were little changed at $657.55.

Unum Group names Verizon CFO Fran Shammo to board of directorsUnum Group (UNM) announced that Francis J. Shammo, executive vice president and CFO of Verizon Communications (VZ), has been elected to serve as a director of the company.

Verizon workers willing to authorize strike if needed, AP saysIn a recent poll available to the 39,000 Verizon workers covered by the Communications Workers of America union, 86% of participants said they would be willing to back strike action in a dispute with Verizon over contract terms, the Associated Press reported Saturday, citing statements by union officials at a rally. Reference Link

Verizon sees percentage of activations on installments continuing to grow in Q3Shammo said customer demand for device installment plans has increased, noting that the percentage of phone activations on installments grew to 49% in Q2, compared with 39% in Q1 and 18% a year ago. Phone activations on device installment plans totaled 4.7M in the quarter and Verizon now has more than 14M customers on these plans, representing about 16% of its postpaid phone base. The company believes that the percentage of phone activations on installments will continue to increase and will likely be around 60% in Q3. Comments made by Verizon CFO Fran Shammo speaking on the company's earnings conference call.

Earnings Watch: Verizon to report Q2 results after AOL acquisitionVerizon Communications (VZ) is expected to report second quarter earnings before the market open on Tuesday, July 21, with a conference call scheduled for 8:30 am ET. Verizon is a holding company providing communications, information and entertainment. EXPECTATIONS: Analysts are looking for earnings per share of $1.01 on revenue of $32.45B, according to First Call. The consensus range for EPS is 93c-$1.05 on revenue of $31.75B-$33.0B. LAST QUARTER: Verizon reported first quarter EPS of $1.02 against estimates for 95c on revenue of $32B against estimates for $32.27B. Verizon Wireless had 565,000 retail postpaid net additions in Q1, a 4.8% increase compared with first-quarter 2014. At the end of Q1, the company had 108.6M retail connections, a 5.1% year-over-year increase, and had 102.6M retail postpaid connections. The company added 621,000 4G smartphones to its customer base in Q1. In light of a net decline in 3G smartphones, overall smartphone growth totaled 247,000. The company also added 820,000 4G tablets and reported net declines of 385,000 basic phones and 188,000 prepaid devices in Q1. 4G devices now constitute approximately 70% of the retail postpaid connections base, up from 49% a year ago – with the 4G LTE network handling about 86% of total wireless data traffic in Q1. At 1.03% in Q1, retail postpaid churn improved both sequentially and year over year. Retail postpaid smartphone customer churn was less than 0.9%. Verizon added 133K net new FiOS Internet, and 90K net new FiOS Video connections in Q1. Verizon had totals of 6.7M FiOS Internet and 5.7M FiOS Video connections at the end of the first quarter, representing year-over-year increases of 9.4% and 7.9%, respectively. CEO Lowell McAdam said, “We are confident in our ability to maintain momentum and continue to add value for customers and shareholders.” On May 12, Verizon announced it would acquire AOL for $50 per share, or $4.4B. The transaction was completed on June 23. On May 19, speaking at the JPMorgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, CFO Fran Shammo said he expects net phone additions in Q2. ANALYST REACTION: Street research has been mostly mixed in the weeks leading up to Verizon’s Q2 earnings report. On May 12, Macquarie downgraded Verizon to Underperform from Neutral with a $45 price target to reflect a weaker 2016 and 2017 earnings outlook. The firm's analyst believed management has made a series of questionable strategic moves beginning with the Vodafone (VOD) deal that will depress earnings. Recent advertising promotions are likely to pressure 2015 margins and ARPU and LTE capacity issues are expected in certain markets later in the year. Macquarie is surprised Verizon shares have held in around $50 with treasury yields rising and increasing Q2 promotions and does not believe this is sustainable ahead of a reset in consensus estimates. Conversely, on July 9, Stifel resumed coverage of Verizon with a Buy rating and price target of $60 per share. PRICE ACTION: Verizon’s shares are down about 3% since the company's Q1 report. Over the past twelve months, they are down about 5.7%. In afternoon trading ahead of Tuesday's Q2 report, Verizon’s shares are up 0.6%.